We hold these Truths to be Self-evident, that all Men and Women are created Equal before the Law, that they are endowed with certain unalienable Rights, that amongst these are Due Process, Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Freedom to practice or leave or change your Religion. Freedom of Press, Speech and Assembly. Freedom from indefinite detention or discrimination based on gender, race or sexual preference. Freedom to marry who you want to marry.

"You are talking about the crimes of these monsters?" he said. "They killed policemen and burned them, and you're talking about human rights? If it were up to me, I would execute all of them in the same place as their crimes. An eye for an eye."

Iraqi judges and lawyers said police officials are often reluctant to formally transfer inmates to the main corrections system because the conviction rate is low, ranging from 10 to 20 percent. Instead, punishment is meted out mainly at police stations, according to defense lawyers and former inmates.
"You get electric shocks, beatings, hangings from the legs," Iman Naman Saleh, a Baghdad defense lawyer, said. "Electric shocks are their favorite because they don't leave scars."

The culture is so messed up that police torture and corruption is ingrained in the very fabric of society. You pay 1 dollar to get past a checkpoint. That dollar will then encourage the person who got it to continue asking for bribes. The effect snowballs until it's commonplace for anyone in a position of power to feel entitled to money and kickbacks and bribes and deference.

"My father is Li Gang!" syndrome.

You demonize the people who happen to have the same religion as the people who probably killed a bunch of cops. You advocate shooting on sight Sunni's just because it was probably some other Sunni's who exploded a car bomb earlier.

How the heck do you determine who did it? Or do you just shoot everyone? Now you're advocating torturing and murdering innocent people just to react - just to let loose and blow off some steam.

America shouldn't have started that war. Assassinating Saddam and a few others would have done just fine - and disbanding the Iraqi Army wasn't all that genius either. But it's done now and America has to (had to?) try to build something from the ruins. Violence seems to be down a bit from a few years ago. Now you're just dealing with all the horrible politics and low-level violence that many other countries deal with. Except there's only so much an outside military force can do if your entire country's culture is corrupt and organized along tribal, ethnic or religious lines. You're simply ****ed. And there's no need for American troops to die for the sake of un-****ing your culture.

Sure, there's signs of hope. Sure, it'll get better in time. You've got a long hard road, but we all do. And it's time you learned to walk. Take responsibility for your country. Organize political grass-roots movements to stop violence and public officials who misuse their powers. Stop the police from using electric shocks. Stop the corruption.